Walton Accident Repairs is one of the leading accident repair centres in Greater Manchester. Established in 1991, Walton Accident Repair has been offering vehicle repair solutions to businesses and individuals across the North West and UK for almost 30 years. Situated close to the M60/M62, Walton’s facilities include a 20,000 sq ft workshop in Trafford Park and state of the art bodyshop equipment and technology.
The business has grown significantly in recent years, employing 42 people and carrying out more than 60 car, van and light commercial vehicle repairs every week. An average month sees between 200-300 repairs carried out.
Continued investment is a key priority at Walton with advances in vehicle technology driving growth. This investment is helping the business to stay at the forefront of the accident repair industry.
One recent investment which has really paid dividends is PlanManager, the next generation bodyshop management solution from Audatex. The business decided to replace its existing system in early 2019 with the workshop planning functionality being a particular feature of interest.
“We can’t wait to see what additional benefits PlanManager can bring to the business as we grow.”
Commenting on the reason for investing in Audatex PlanManager, Danielle Brooks, finance director, said: “The ease of use and flexibility of the system is what appealed to our business, and it’s exciting to see how this can deliver real benefit to Walton. As existing Audatex customers, we are familiar with the way it works along with its reputation. We were impressed with PlanManager when we first saw it on the Audatex roadshows, and a comprehensive on-site demonstration convinced us that this would be a good investment to match the aspirations for our business.”
With so much competition across the dynamic accident repair industry, customer expectations are increasing continuously, resulting in greater workloads for bodyshops who can meet and exceed these expectations. With a proud reputation for quality customer service since day one, Walton Accident Repair has managed this with constant investment in staff training and technology-driven solutions that can streamline every aspect of the bodyshop management process. Efficiently repairing vehicles quickly and to a very high standard, cutting costs and being an environmentally conscious business (which has become increasingly important to more eco-aware customers) is particularly important to Walton, as these are all essential factors which will help to underpin future growth and build loyalty.
On the benefit Audatex PlanManager has brought to the business, Danielle Brooks added: “Here at Walton we pride ourselves on our ability to cope with a large volume of vehicle repairs but realise that customer service matters as much as ultimate repairs we complete for customers cars or commercial vehicles. We have invested continuously back into the business, and PlanManager has been a key investment for us in terms of future productivity, allowing our teams to do more with a reduction in admin and improved planning tools.
PlanManager’s cloud-based format has completely reinvented how bodyshop workflows can be managed on the move, enabling Walton’s management team to keep track of up to the minute data on mobile or tablet devices anytime, anywhere. For bodyshops using PlanManager, this mobile functionality can lead to an upturn in productivity, largely due to the ability to access real-time data improving efficiencies across the board at an operational level. Decisions can be made in an instant resulting in smooth and fast progression of jobs without having to wait for physical assessment. This marked improvement in efficiency means significantly reduced key-to-key times, ensuring that the customer is kept happy with minimal disruption, vastly reduced delays.
Added Danielle: “On the finance side, the integration between PlanManager and Sage is seamless and it’s effortless and intuitive to use. It simply downloads CSV files and imports sales invoices without any issues, so this is good news all round for the business. We can’t wait to see what other benefits it can bring to the business as we grow and continue to implement PlanManager throughout the workshop.”
As part of the digital claims process, initial feedback on PlanManager’s communication tools has been overwhelmingly positive, helping to minimise face to face contact (handy especially with social distancing measures now part of the new norm). Communications are seamlessly delivered via email, SMS, social media, calls logged and image and video updates are automated. This process is all tailored to how the customer wants to receive their updates throughout the claims process putting the customer in the driving seat, which supports Walton’s commitment to first-class customer service.
For more information or to request a demonstration of PlanManager, please visit:https://www.audatex.co.uk/solutions/planmanager
